My daughter, Lucy Goose, had the brilliant idea that we should have a geocaching entry in this year's SLO Holiday Parade and make an event out of it. So, here we are!

Then, since we will already be "dressed up", we decided to make it a double header and enter the Santa Maria Parade of Lights the following night! Everyone is encouraged to participate in BOTH parades. Let's make a good showing to our local communities. For more information on the Saturday event, please see GC20V0X.

The SLO parade theme this year is Cheers Around Downtown, so we decided the name of our entry will be Cheers for Geocaching. Our concept is to have our group lead out with two people carrying a large banner with the POC name on it. I will follow in my FJ Cruiser and pull a small trailer behind me. The FJ will have lights and holiday decorations on it, as well as car magnets made with the geocaching.com logo and also our POC logo and name. The trailer is designed to resemble a large ammo can. It will have lights and decorations on it, and will look like it is bursting with Christmas presents. The rest of the group will follow on foot behind the trailer. You are strongly encouraged to come in costume (travel bugs, geocoins, etc) or dressed up in your geocaching gear/garb.

In the spirit of the holiday, BooBooBee suggested that we all bring a gift to donate to those less fortunate. I think it is a wonderful idea! Any donated gifts will be given to the Women's Shelter Program of SLO County. They have a Holiday Wish List that can give you some ideas of what you can bring. We will place all donated gift items in the ammo can trailer as "swag" for purposes of the parade, and then take them to the shelter the following week.

The official start time for the parade is 7:00 pm. I am suggesting that people on design teams meet at 5:00 so that we can take care of any last decorating. We have to be fully ready for inspection by 6:15. Eveyone else must be at the line-up by 6:00 pm. We are entry number 51, and our line-up location is on Broad Street in front of Mission College Prep. The parade usually lasts about 2 hours, so we should be finished sometime after 9:00 pm.

Some things to consider or be aware of:
1. This is an evening event and it is typically very cold at this time of year. Dress warmly!
2. The parade route is not very long (about a mile), but you will still want comfortable foot wear.
3. We are not allowed to hand out or throw anything to the crowd, so please do not bring candy or other items to distribute.
4. Costumes made of flammable type materials must be flame proofed.
5. No alcohol or animals are allowed.
6. No one is allowed to be dressed as Santa.

Here is a link to the application form. You do not need to submit a form (I will do that for us), but please read through the list of rules that do apply to everyone participating.

I want to give a HUGE thanks to our design team leaders - etriley4 who was in charge of the banner and Signal, and jtk49ers who provided the trailer and handled the design/construction. They both invested a lot of their own time and money to make this all happen.

Also, special thanks to Crafty Turtle who volunteered to design the alternative POC logo at no charge, and to BooBooBee for bringing the trailer up from Santa Maria and shuttling it back home.

One last thing...it is rumored that both of these fellows will be making an appearance in the parade. Just thought the junior cachers might want to know!

UPDATE: Immediately following the parade there will be a raffle for "door" prizes. You will receive one raffle ticket for each gift item donated to the Women's Shelter.

UPDATE: For all who are interested, we will meet after the parade in the back room at Spike's Pub at 570 Higuera (in The Creamery). They serve food until 11:00 and children are allowed. During this post-parade celebration we will release the coordinates for five new geocaches placed in the area as part of this event. So bring your flashlights and try to score an FTF or two afterward!

UPDATE: We are entry number 51, and our line-up location is on Broad Street in front of Mission College Prep. I have updated the coordinates for the event accordingly.